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Online Learning Resource Creation

The focus on digital media grew out of the Government of Canada’s establishment of the creation of online learning resources as a national priority. The development of the Foundation’s first website—www.albertaheritage.net—by the end of 1999, set the direction. It was clear that, through the development of educational websites in partnership with heritage organizations, the Foundation would be serving its Mission of  bringing heritage to the mainstream.

The Heritage Community Foundation has become a pioneer in the development of media-rich websites that make heritage resources accessible to all. This is what the Foundation excels at and has been the basis of our growing reputation. While proponents of the World Wide Web have readily grasped its importance as a communications medium and a vehicle for “e-commerce,” they have neglected its potential as a deliverer of authoritative content. Because the Internet is the growing medium of choice, not only for educational users but also the general public, it is the perfect medium to help accomplish the Foundation’s objects and purposes.

Reasons for focusing on the creation of Albertan content for the World Wide Web include:

  • The World Wide Web is the current vehicle for making accessible information to local, regional, provincial, national and international audiences
  • The Government of Canada has made the creation of digital content a national priority
  • The Government of Alberta has expended nearly $400 million in the provision of broadband access to every community in Alberta through the SuperNet
  • The Government of Alberta has focused on the creation of Online Learning Resources for the Alberta curriculum and promoted the developed of Online Learning Repositories

The Foundation actively partners with museums, heritage organizations and institutions, the media and others that lack the capacity to develop content for the Web.